TACOMA — Jurors in the trial of three Tacoma police officers charged with the death of Manuel Ellis indicated Wednesday that they are close to reaching verdicts in the case, but it appears a lone holdout juror is an obstacle to a unanimous verdict.
The jury, which was reconstituted Tuesday because of a juror’s COVID-19 case, asked two questions of Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff on Wednesday afternoon, both reckoning with the prospect of a divided jury.
A hung jury would result in a mistrial, meaning prosecutors would face a decision on whether to retry any officers that the jury deadlocks on.
The jury reported that it had reached consensus on at least one count and at least one defendant, but that shed little light on which officer or charge the jury might have been referring to. However, the jury also noted that it had not reached a unanimous verdict on all of the counts or all of the defendants.
Chushcoff directed the jury to continue deliberating. He told lawyers outside of the jury’s presence that deliberations have been relatively short, considering that they began anew Tuesday when an alternative juror was brought in to relieve the panelist who tested positive for COVID. On Monday, a separate alternate was swapped in when a juror had a family emergency.
The judge said it was his preference to keep jurors deliberating at least until Thursday in hopes that they could iron out their differences. Lawyers for the prosecution and defense agreed.
Minutes after he directed the jury to resume deliberating, it had another question for Chushcoff: “If there is one juror that is resolute in their decision and will not change their mind, can we conclude?”
“Continue your deliberations,” the judge responded.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died March 3, 2020, after repeatedly telling police he could not breathe as they struggled in a South Tacoma intersection. The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation from physical restraint. Lawyers for the officers have offered the alternative theory that the high level of methamphetamine in Ellis’ system and his enlarged heart killed him.
Officers Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher “Shane” Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 35, are charged with first-degree manslaughter. The jury also has the option to convict them of the lesser included offense of second-degree manslaughter.
Collins and Burbank, the first to encounter Ellis, are also charged with second-degree murder.
They have pleaded not guilty, are free on bail and remain employed by the Tacoma Police Department on paid leave.
Most of the jury has been deliberating since Thursday, when 10 weeks of testimony concluded.
The charges against the officers represent just the sixth time in the past century that law enforcement officers in Washington state have been charged in an on-duty death. The last time so many officers went on trial for a death was 85 years ago.
The trial is also the first courtroom test of a new voter-approved police accountability law that lowered the legal threshold to criminally charge officers with a killing.
